Assessing the Recordkeeping Quality at the School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

 Dental records are an essential part of dental practice. The quality of dental recordkeeping is paramount in ensuring the delivery of high-quality dental care and is also important for medico-legal reasons. Should there be any dispute or need for review, detailed and well-maintained records can provide evidence of the care provided and the decision-making process.

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to assess the quality of dental recordkeeping and dental charting practice at the dental clinic School of Dental Sciences.

METHODS

The study was conducted in a retrospective manner reviewing dental records of patients treated by specialists, dental officers, and postgraduate and undergraduate students at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia over a five-year period. Eight key components of clinical dental records i.e. date of charting, legibility on the odontogram, no blank on the odontogram, whether any mistakes have been strikethrough and initials, medical history, dental history, investigation, and treatment plan were assessed. A modified CRABEL scoring system was used to assess the quality of data retrieved from dental records.

RESULTS

The study involved the analysis of 324 case files. Among these, 90 files obtained scores ranging from 60% to 80%, with 7.7% attributed to undergraduates, 9.6% to dental officers, 6.8% to postgraduates, and 3.7% to specialists. The remaining 234 files achieved scores between 80% and 100%, with a breakdown of 17% from undergraduates, 15.4% from dental officers, 18.2% from postgraduates, and 21.3% from specialists.

CONCLUSION

 Even though the overall quality of recordkeeping in this study is good, with most records achieving a CRABEL score of 80% and above, it's important to acknowledge that ideally, each component assessed should achieve a perfect score of 100%, as it will reflect the practitioners's work.

Detection of Tooth-Colored Restorative Materials for Forensic Purposes Based on Their Optical Properties: An In Vitro Comparative Study

Victim identification using dental records involves antemortem and postmortem comparison of dental charts. Since dental restorations may be part of such records, identifying them accurately is critical. The objective of this study was to compare the diagnostic reliability and validity of two optical methods for identifying tooth-colored restorations (digital imaging fiber optic transillumination (DiFOTI) using near infrared light, and fluorescence-aided identification of restorations (FAIR)) with conventional diagnostic methods. Four examiners identified and charted tooth-colored restorations in three sets of typodonts on the bench using conventional visual and tactile examination, DiFOTI (DIAGNOcam™) and FAIR. All examinations were repeated after 4 weeks. Both the sensitivity (95%) and specificity (97%) of the FAIR method were significantly higher than those for DiFOTI (82% and 82%) and for conventional inspection (71% and 82%). In conclusion, FAIR method performed better than conventional examination and DiFOTI, and was more reliable for identifying tooth-colored restorations.